Tag: OPI

Nails

Midweek Manicure // Angles in Blue

Kimberly

As I was getting ready to leave work today I made an amazing discovery. It was 5pm, but it was STILL LIGHT OUT! Maybe I’m late to the party on this one, but I was pretty excited. Oh, the possibilities. Warmer weather, longer dog walks, daylight, daylight, daylight. The realization just made me happy.

Blue Geometric Nails

This week I used tape and three different polishes for a geometric mani. I’ve had the color “Can’t Find My Czechbook” by OPI for quite a while now and I’ve been dying to try it, but sometimes I have to wait for the right inspiration. It’s a really nice cream polish in a sort of muted robin’s egg color.

I used:

  • Professional 10 Nail Lacquer in Moonlight (nude/beige color)
  • OPI Can’t Find My Czechbook
  • China Glaze First Mate (dark blue)
  • Scotch tape
  • Seche Vite top coat

Blue Triangles Mani

After a base coat, I painted two coats of Moonlight on all of my nails. After letting this dry completely (45 minutes to an hour), I taped off a portion of my nail to expose only a diagonal section running from one side of the nail bed to the end of my nail on the opposite side. I then painted this exposed portion with Can’t Find My Czechbook and removed the tape right away. After that coat of polish was also completely dry, I taped off the opposite portion of my nail and painted on the dark blue First Mate color, then pulled off the tape right away. The reason you need to let each coat dry completely is so that the tape doesn’t stick to the polish underneath (trust me, been there..just let it dry). Another good tip is to stick the scotch tape onto the palm of your hand first, then pull it off and put it on your nail, this makes the tape a little less sticky, so there’s even less chance of mucking something up!

Happy Hump Day!

kimberly

Nails

Midweek Manicure // Textures & Shapes

Kimberly

Enjoying a day off today due to winter storm Nika, which now has Dennis hell-bent on getting himself a snowblower since we’re expecting even more snow this weekend. Meanwhile, I’ve been spending some time thinking up nail-art ideas, and wanted to share with you two recent manicures.

OPI Vesper Liquid SandFirst is a liquid sand polish by OPI called Vesper. I found it in a discount bin at Ulta and have decided it’s my favorite of their liquid sands. I love the color and finish. It’s hard to photograph, but hopefully this photo does it a bit of justice.

Secondly is this simple and quick Valentine’s Day themed mani, featuring simple little hearts at the end of each nail.

SImple Hearts

After a base coat, I used China Glaze Passion for Petals to create little heart shapes by painting on two swipes of polish at downward and intersecting angles. Top coat and done!

Now back out to do some more shoveling – the more I shovel, the less we need a snowblower, right?

kimberly

Nails

Midweek Manicure // Adventures in Plaid

Kimberly

Happy Hump Day!

Plaid Nail Tape Mani

This was a relatively ambitious one. I used nail tape to achieve the plaid design. I’m in a love hate relationship with nail tape at this point. Has anyone else used it? How do you get it to not want to peel off after a few days?! Apparently multiple coats of top coat are not enough?  Anyway…

In addition to a top and base coat , I used:

Blue and Silver Plaid Mani

To start, after a base coat I painted each nail with two coats of Keeping Suzi At Bay. Once dry, I started, one nail at a time, by cutting short strips of nail tape, and taping them on my nail in the pattern above to create a plaid effect. I used cuticle nippers to cut the nail tape in strips that were initially a bit longer than the area I needed them to cover. Once I placed the tape, I used cuticle nippers to cut it to the right length. Then one, two, three coats of top coat (!! – I had to get the tape to stay stuck down!) and I was ready to go.

Plaid Nails

They took me a while, but I think it was worth the effort (although some people might start to think I have too much time on my hands…)

Blue and Silver Plaid Nails

kimberly

Nails

Midweek Manicure // Simple Single Stripe

Kimberly

This week has been a long one (and it’s not even Friday, yet!). I won’t go into details about it, but I did wear a shirt to work inside-out one day, and didn’t realize it until a pretty fair amount of time had gone by. That should tell you a little bit about where my head’s been at this week! I’ve been feeling just a bit overwhelmed lately. So, since my brain couldn’t handle too much, I went with a nice and simple mani this week.
brown & black simple stripe nail art

I also managed to take a whole bunch of photos of my nails before realizing my SD card was not in my camera. Yeah, one of those weeks.

I used:

  • OPI – A-Piers to be Tan (from their San Francisco collection, I really love this color)
  • Black striper polish

Brown/Black Stripe Mani

Relatively simple and pretty straight forward. I like the combination of the creamy warm brown and black together. Is it weird that it reminds me of tiger’s eye?

Happy Friday-Eve!

kimberly

Nails

Midweek Manicure // Oz the Great and Powerful Swatches

Kimberly

Happy Wednesday! Over the weekend, D and I went to see Oz the Great and Powerful in 3D. I thought it was pretty good and it was nice to have a night out and eat movie theater popcorn. Before the movie, we stopped at Ulta (yay!) where I picked up two OPI polishes from their Oz the Great and Powerful collection. Here’s a look at the two colors:

OPI Glints of Glinda

OPI Oz the Great and Powerful Polish

First is Glints of Glinda. A very light, very translucent peachy-pink shade. It’s pretty subtle but I really like it. I can see myself using it for a lot of nail art where I’ll need a good neutral base. It had a nice amount of shine and went on really smoothly – sometimes I worry about very translucent polishes drying really streaky, but I didn’t have that problem with this polish.

OPI What Wizardry is This

Next is What Wizardry is this, which is a liquid sand polish. I was really excited to try it because I’m sure you all know by now that I love textured nails (see here, and here). The color goes on nicely and dries matte (but stays sparkly because of the gold glitter in it). Once dry, you end up with a sandpaper-like finish. Kind of a cool concept. It’s also been pretty long-wearing, even without a topcoat so…10 extra points for that.

OPI What Wizardry Is This label

OPI Oz Great and Powerful polish

Thanks for reading!

kimberly